Spot bronson and towels

I made some towels in spot bronson. The warp was 20/2 cotton and I used 20/1 unbleached linen and 16/1 light blue linen as weft.
I chose to do a close spot bronson.

the quality of these towels are superp, they are soft and very absorbent, the best towels I have ever woven, but they are not beautiful. The set are too loose, especially with the 20/1 unbleached linen.

It's better whit the 16/1 linen

Half a year ago, I wove a sample in double weave and I got some leftovers (ca 3½ m) and I chose a spot bronson again, but now I added some plain weave

The warp is 16/2 cotton and the weft is 16/1 linen.
It appears to be a nice pattern

I made 3 towels
I haven't tried them yet

A loop, of course

Autumn colors

This summer I invested in a rigid heddle loom. I bought it from my mother in law's friend, who had inherited it from her mother and didn't want to use it.

On one of the few warm and sunny days we had I sat in the garden and I wove the autumn scarf.

I made some samples that I treated differently.

The sample at left is untreated, the sample in the middle is felted by hand and the sample on the right got the big trip in the washing machine at 60 degrees celsius and 1500 rpm of spin.









At the end I chose to felt by hand

It is perfect for autumn

Headless error

All weavers are familiar with the thrill when you have completed all the settings for a new warp, the pins holding the top lamms has been removed and you sit down at the weaving bench, grabs the shuttle and push the first treadle down, put the weft in, beats along, next treadle, weft, beat together. All treadles must of course be tested before you can lift your arms above your head and shout YES, I did it again ....... or not.

A simple treading error, again and again, urrgh......


Sometimes you can be lucky to simply have treadled a single thread in the wrong shaft, then you can cut the heddless and bind a new heddless at the right shaft, around the thread.

the eye has the right size

I made 2 errors on the tablecloth I'm working on, both were treading on the wrong shaft.
I then tied 2 new heddles on the right shafts, one works perfectly, while the other, I haven't been entirely accurate enough to make the eye like the heddless sitting next to, so when the shaft is lowered, the tread is not lowered enough and the thread will not be caught by the shuttle.

this eye is to big

Daily Weaverliness

I have joined a group on Weavolution, called Daily Weaverliness.
I didn't know the word weaverliness, so I asked the manager, what it means.
Her answer to me: "I don't know that it is a real word but I used it meaning anything realted to weaving - so it can include planning, designing, spinning, finishing, as well as warping, and weaving."

I think it's a lovely word. Try to taste it.

I really like to play with words. In the Danish language we have a lot of words who can be used in different sense. F.ex. to tread the heddles are "at sølle" (the little word "at" indicate something to do - to work, to run ect.). But the word "sølle" also mean something poor or little, something you don't count on, so when I construct the sense "en sølle fejl" it will have two interpretations: An error in the treading of the heddles, or just a little error.


I'm wondering if I can make the same puns with heddles and headless. I'll try.

How wide one can embrace?

It's not that I will describe myself as a collector. Apart from a tissue collection and paper dolls when I was a kid, I only collected mustard glass, they were fast tradable in a family of 4 children, the collection grew sizeable in step with kids left home, it was actually necessary to send the the stock on recycled since there wasn't room for more in the closet.

Otherwise, I haven't collected anything special! Well, I think I haven't. Yarn, for example,you can't make a collection of that, it has to be used to weave with. Looms, who can have to many?

A little more than six months ago, I saw a used loom for sale, it had a weaving width of 160 cm. For a reasonable price. Now I have the opportunity to weave a tablecloth for our dining table! I thought.

Preferably in 5-shaft satin on 2 parties. Approximately 1.40 x 4 m, with shrinkage the weave width must be 10% larger, ie approx. 155 cm. 10 shafts and 10 treadles.

I bought the loom, the seller believe there are 16 shafts, it's perfect, I have not more than 8 shafts.

The loom has a history (that's what I like about used looms), During The second World War there are scarce fuel and there is the rationing. At Copenhagen  there is a weaving mill with mechanical looms, due to fuel shortage, one gets manufactured ​​42 handlooms at Lervad. It is then one of them I have bought. the K-loom. It has the most adorable enamel badge, white with a blue K on.

I get filled the trailer - quite frankly, it was Allan who wore and packed. Home with loom, assemble the loom and count the shaft and treadles.

16 shafts, but only 10 top lamms
8 short and 8 long lamms
8 treadles

Thus even an 8-shaft loom, but now with a weaving width of 160 cm.


I bought some cheap cotton yarn 8/2 at my local yarn-pusher and set up a tablecloth of around 145 cm weaving width.

It is in every way a major loom, here we can talk about that a Breast beam, is a brisket rail, and yes, I know that I'm not quite high!


As you can see from the picture, there is no question of ergonomically correct working position when I enter the leftmost treadle down, while I'm trying to put weft in from right.
I have had to raise the weaving bench, so I can  get to the edge, but that means that I can only reach the treadles with the tip of my toes.

I will still keep the loom, it has a clear advantage. It has exchange on cloth beam, so the warp can be tensioned a lot, perfect if I want to weave carpets or other things that require a tight warp.

a strap is a strap or......

When I started weaving, I was convinced that  I would never be weaving towels. Waste of time, was my thought. You can buy 3 tea towels in the store for no money, why spend time weaving themselves.

You have a stand to the one takes a new!

I wove my first dishtowels at  the evening class I still follow. We had a theme where we woven items for the home. Well, I thought, this is where I have to weave the linen I would not want to weave at all.

I wove 4 pieces, for a recipe called "Keep it simple". Cottolin and flax, nice quality.

Dishtowels must of course want to be able to hang. I wondered for a split second to put a strap made out of a piece of ribbon, but honestly, how much nicer it would be if the strap matched the dish towel.

An inkle loom was put on the wish list and yes, I am now the proud owner of an inkle loom.

Here is my first strap.

These dish towels were (of course) not the last. Until now I have woven 2 different kinds and have a new towel project on track.

An inkle is a smart tool, it is easy to carry and you can sit on the couch with it.

I am very fascinated by the weaves, as Inca Indians are doing. There is a great weaver in South America, Laverne Waddington. She has published 2 books about "backstrap weaving".

I have experimented a little with pattern pick up.
You can watch how to do, here

outlook

I am so lucky to live in a place with wide open spaces. when I stand in the bathroom and brush my teeth  in the morning, I can watch the sun rise, mirrored in the mirror. I can follow the sun walk on the sky throughout the day and watch it go down in the west from my kitchen window.

In my garden there is a deer with her kid and in the field, the leverets are playing. Swallows build nests in the attic (the mess are enormously) and they fly low, when it suppose to be raining.

Right now we are on the border between summer and autumn, the trees are starting to change colors, I have to go out with the camera and capture the moment, so I  can use these beautiful colors in a weaving.

Although it is not just the season now, I must tell of a great sunset sky I saw one day in March
It was a frosty day and when I looked to the east the sky was clear and blue, I let my gaze drift across the sky against west and the color went from clear blue to lighter and lighter blue until it was almost white before it switched to light gray, light-red/orange and finally the orange-red. It is these colors I want to capture and use in a piece of woven textile.

I started to weave  about 7 ​​- 8 years ago. Since then I have been seen the colors that surround us in a completely different way.